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The GTA Thread

Started by mobias, March 22, 2010, 11:14:55 PM

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mobias

Thought I'd start a proper split topic for all things GTA since there's a fair few of us here that are big fans.

I'll start off with some bad news. The GTA expansion packs for the PS3 and PC have been delayed until mid April now. Apparently Sony may have not been happy with certain music being licensed or may have had problems with things being overly vulgar in the radio stations....

'The move comes following a "last minute game submission request from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to edit some of the in-game Liberty City radio station, television, and internet content". The company has not been more specific than this, but it's likely that some fans will begin comparing the new releases to those which arrived on Xbox 360 last year.

Rockstar says that it wants the release to be "fair" for all and doesn't want to punish only PS3 players in Europe. Episodes from Liberty City and its respective downloadable content will now be released for PS3 and PC on April 13th in North America and April 16th in Europe.

.....anyway this means I'll definitely be buying God of War now to tide me over for the next month.

Quote from: mobias on March 22, 2010, 11:14:55 PM
I'll start off with some bad news. The GTA expansion packs for the PS3 and PC have been delayed until mid April now. Apparently Sony may have not been happy with certain music being licensed or may have had problems with things being overly vulgar in the radio stations....

'The move comes following a "last minute game submission request from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to edit some of the in-game Liberty City radio station, television, and internet content".

Oh for fuck's sake:- I hate that kind of censorship (if true) after the fact.

Rev

It's a puzzler, as I can't think of a single thing in either of the expansion packs that was in any way 'stronger' than the content of the main game.  This has to be down to territorial rights over music, surely?

mobias

Rockstar are being pretty open about what's happening...

'Due to a last minute game submission request from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to edit some of the in-game Liberty City radio station, television, and internet content – we are forced to delay the worldwide release of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City for both PlayStation 3 and PC for an extra two weeks.

The new release date for Episodes from Liberty City - and the two downloadable episodes The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony - on those platforms is now April 13th in North America and April 16th in Europe. This new date will enable us to rectify these changes for Sony Europe, and still allow for a level playing field for all of the Grand Theft Auto fans that have been waiting patiently for this release. In the meantime, we're moving full speed ahead towards the new game release date. On that note – please be aware that the Grand Theft Auto IV PlayStation 3 leaderboards at Rockstar Games Social Club will be down for maintenance for one week starting March 22nd as we work on their re-launch in support of Episodes from Liberty City.

Below are answers to some additional questions that we know some of you may have...

Those game changes sound pretty minor. Why does the game have to be delayed a whole two weeks?

Unfortunately, with each round of changes comes fully re-testing the game and a full re-submission to PlayStation. This is the nature of the game submission process. Believe us, if we could expedite the turnaround any sooner – we would. We are dying to get this game in the hands of fans who've waited for it for so long in the first place.

Why is content being edited just for the European release? This doesn't seem fair.

There are different regional requirements for content – whether dictated by ratings boards like the ESRB and BBFC or by SCEE – this is pretty standard in the world of entertainment.

If this content is only being edited for the PlayStation 3 release, and only in Europe... why does everyone in North America etc have to wait? And why do PC players have to wait at all?

This was a tough decision but with a simultaneous release, everyone can experience multiplayer simultaneously, take part in online events together, be on level ground on leaderboards, etc.

What about those Episodes from Liberty City PSN and GFWL Social Club multiplayer events you announced for April 2nd and 3rd?

The first Episodes events for those systems will now be on April 16th and 17th. We will most likely replace the originally scheduled early April events with one for another game. Any requests?

Any other questions, please feel to leave in the Comments area and we'll do our best to answer. While this sort of thing may be commonplace in the world of interactive entertainment, we know that game delays are as disappointing to you all as they are to us – and we thank all of our fans immensely for their patience and understanding.

Rockstar Games

mobias

Just bought the disc version of the Episodes from Liberty City for my PS3 and have been playing it all afternoon. Very impressed. It craps all over Just Cause 2 which is what I've been playing a lot of recently. Rockstar prove that its all about the little details which make GTA special.

Its such a breath of fresh air playing in Liberty City but with a different character and different general feel, it almost feels like a completely different game. I've played a little of both episodes and its great how they've altered the weather and lighting to really add to each episode's unique atmosphere. Playing The Ballad of Gay Tony first and I'm loving the new radio station stuff particularly Vice City FM.

Any other PS3 owners here playing it at the moment for the first time?

chand

Yeah, I'm playing it for the first time on PS3. Playing the Lost And The Damned first, which has been great fun so far, finding the bikes really good to ride and it gives it a different feel to the main game. Haven't got that far yet cos I got really into the first Sam & Max episode but I finished that last night so I'll be going back to GTA now.

Sexton Brackets Drugbust

Yeah, I'm back on The Lost and Damned after finishing Sam and Max. I tend to be a bit OCD with GTA games and spent the afternoon hunting seagulls; It's not like I even enjoy the hidden item searches, but I'm compelled to complete the game 100%.

Really enjoying the main missions and love the way the three games' stories overlap and effect one another.

Rev

Quote from: mobias on April 21, 2010, 06:22:11 PM
Its such a breath of fresh air playing in Liberty City but with a different character and different general feel, it almost feels like a completely different game.

Isn't it just?  I wouldn't go switching between the two episodes, though; play them in turn for the full effect.  I think the Ballad of Gay Tony may be my Favourite Game of All Time, despite all the sodding helicopter bits.  It's such a beautifully-written thing.

Slaaaaabs

The PC performance on these Episodes is fucking shocking, especially when compared to the newer Just Cause 2 and Assassin's Creed 2. However I cannot deny that Euphoria adds so much to the combat that it makes those two look a bit shit in comparison. Roll on Red Dead Redemption, and please let it be a smooth experience on the PS3.

mobias

Quote from: Rev on April 22, 2010, 03:11:08 AM
Isn't it just?  I wouldn't go switching between the two episodes, though; play them in turn for the full effect.  I think the Ballad of Gay Tony may be my Favourite Game of All Time, despite all the sodding helicopter bits.  It's such a beautifully-written thing.

Yeah I've decided to play the Ballad of Gay Tony all the way through first. I did think it might be interesting to play both episodes concurrently as I've always wondered what a GTA where you play multiple characters might be like.  But interestingly it didn't seem to really work, there's just too much to take on board.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is, for me anyway, a lot more what the core GTAIV game should have been. A bit more fun, a bit more over the top and a bit more...well GTA.
Its also interesting how much the music in GTA can almost make the game. Vice City was so brilliantly done I thought because there was always this fantastic juxtaposition between the wonderful cheesy sentiment strewn 80's music providing the soundtrack to you going around creating total mayhem. Its great that that element has been brought back in to GTAIV.

mobias

Can I just say that the mini game in the Ballad of Gay Tony where you go into the Hercules night club and try and pull the chick on the dance floor is one of the most marvellous things I've ever seen in the computer game. Or at the least the bit where she gets down her gay friend from the stage to have a dance off with you is. Its utterly fantastic. I'm not sure what triggers that though? I've only had it happen a couple of times. It seems if you dance well enough you get to snog her and if you dance badly she just tells you to piss off. Does anyone know how you get her to get her gay friend to give you dancing lessons? I've not had the 'bus stop' dance yet GTA IV Bus Stop Dance - TBogT - Hercules (Gay Club)  I guess that must come later in the game?

I've not played Lost and Dammed yet but Ballad of Gay Tony is just so much more fun and engaging than the vanilla GTA game, which in comparison seems to take itself far too seriously. I like all the little details like if you hang around in the girls loos of the Maisionette 9 nightclub you can hear the sound of a girl puking in one of the cubicles, nice touch.

Its just a shame that our man Louis is quite startlingly bereft of charisma. I haven't found any of the GTAIV characters very likeable so far. I never really bonded with Niko, he just seemed a bit bland and again lacking in much charm. In Vice City Tommy Vercetti was of course the epitome of 80's cool and in San Andreas CJ might have been a bit too 'gangsta' for some but he always had a good line of wit about him. I don't know how they managed to do so badly with these new characters.     

Uncle TechTip

On PC, do the new episodes feature their own multiplayer worlds? I only got into MP a few weeks ago and for a couple of days the servers were very busy at peak times. But then the update came out which brought us the new opening screen for the new eps (man they like shoving it down your throat don't they? 'Please buy this' with prompts in the single-player game and flashing menu options. Not cool)....

anyway, the update came and since then it's been slim pickings, often when you join at peak times there's nobody around or one sorry-looking individual. Is everybody on the new eps or have I missed the boat? I find it hard to believe that one of the biggest-selling games of all time saw its on-line user base evaporate in two years. Maybe not many play the PC version?

And the on-line lobby system has to be the worst ever. Join this game you are offered or go away.

Slaaaaabs

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on April 24, 2010, 10:52:55 PM
On PC, do the new episodes feature their own multiplayer worlds? I only got into MP a few weeks ago and for a couple of days the servers were very busy at peak times. But then the update came out which brought us the new opening screen for the new eps (man they like shoving it down your throat don't they? 'Please buy this' with prompts in the single-player game and flashing menu options. Not cool)....

anyway, the update came and since then it's been slim pickings, often when you join at peak times there's nobody around or one sorry-looking individual. Is everybody on the new eps or have I missed the boat? I find it hard to believe that one of the biggest-selling games of all time saw its on-line user base evaporate in two years. Maybe not many play the PC version?

And the on-line lobby system has to be the worst ever. Join this game you are offered or go away.

Yeah I think everyone is playing Gay Tony MP as it has the parachute.

Little Hoover

I've started with Lost and Damned, because that came out first, and since Gay Tony is supposed to be the fun and silly one, I thought I'd work through the more serious one first so Gay Tony will be my reward. Not that you could really call Lost & Damned work. Although I'm not too sure I'm enjoying the story that much and I think I can kind of see how things are going to end.

spanky

I'm doing it in the same order. I've found all the characters to be a bit douchey so far, especially Johnny. I like the fact that you start in Alderney though, as it seems an empty afterthought in the main game. The scale of the add-ons is impressive, which surprises me a little. I'm not sure why I was expecting a two-hour game.

mobias

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on April 24, 2010, 10:52:55 PM


And the on-line lobby system has to be the worst ever. Join this game you are offered or go away.

Yup totally agree. When GTAIV came out all the revues said that the online portion of the game was going to be the really revolutionary part of it but its turned out nothing like that. I've rarely had a good satisfying experience in any of the online game modes with the vanilla GTAIV, haven't ventured into the TBOGT online portion yet.
Rockstar really need to introduce official servers that are on 24 hours a day so you can see which games are being played and how many people are in them before you actually decide to join in. The potential for a truly massive online GTA game is there but Rockstar need to implement it much better next time.

Really regretting playing TBOGT first as the down to earth gritty biker gang stuff of TLAD is going to seem like a real comedown in comparison. Will probably wait a while before starting it. 

 

Little Hoover

Well the ballad of gay tony was a lot of fun, but did anyone else find the story a bit bleak and depressing,
Spoiler alert
I mean it does actually end up happily and explains what happens to Bulgarin which I thought was a pretty big plot hole in the IV)
[close]
But overall even by GTA standards the characters were some of the most cunty, coked-up assholes ever in a GTA game. And there weren't really any other likeable characters to balance things out the way there might have been in other games in the series. It was always a problem with IV anyway; the bad guys are so overtly evil, which really jarred in a game that was trying to mark itself out as being more realistic and morally grey. But more than ever before this just sort of made me unhappy that I was doing these jobs for such terrible people.

mobias

Quote from: Little Hoover on May 09, 2010, 11:50:36 AM
Well the ballad of gay tony was a lot of fun, but did anyone else find the story a bit bleak and depressing,
Spoiler alert
I mean it does actually end up happily and explains what happens to Bulgarin which I thought was a pretty big plot hole in the IV)
[close]
But overall even by GTA standards the characters were some of the most cunty, coked-up assholes ever in a GTA game. And there weren't really any other likeable characters to balance things out the way there might have been in other games in the series. It was always a problem with IV anyway; the bad guys are so overtly evil, which really jarred in a game that was trying to mark itself out as being more realistic and morally grey. But more than ever before this just sort of made me unhappy that I was doing these jobs for such terrible people.

Yup couldn't agree more. I think there was a problem with IV generally that the writers got in way over their depth with it. I watched Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels on the TV last night and it brought to mind something Mark Kermode said about it which was Guy Ritchie, like Tarrantino at his very worst, had just written the same dialogue for each character. At any given point you could just swap the script about, wouldn't make any difference to how you perceive each character as everyone is continually spouting out the same over the top and over stylised dialogue. GTAIV is like that all the way through I think. I know on the one hand you can say well its an over the top game so you have to have these over the top characters but I think you can still balance that with having over the top characters you can actually enjoy and get something out of. With the Ballad of Gay Tony and the core IV game I did find myself skipping through cut scenes just because I found them all the same and ultimately pretty annoying.

Its interesting with GTAIV watching Rockstar trying to take the game in a more grown up and serious direction yet at the same time not knowing really how to and failing with the balance that the older GTA's of the last generation actually managed better. And ultimately I don't think GTA's gaming fanbase actually want the game to be like The Wire or 24 (two TV's shows I've read Rockstar were influenced by when making GTAIV)

It'll be interesting to see what's in store for GTA next. Anyway until then I'm really looking forward to Red Dead Redemption. 

rudi

Hullo. I realise I'm a million years late and everything but I've only just got a new computer capable of handling big games. As it is, GTA IV is laggy as fuck. has anyone found a solution to this problem as Google is just packed with conflicting, contrary, outdated or just plain confusing advice!

Oh, I'm running Windows 7, in case that's important. I've waited so long to play this, too.. :-(

Well, from what I heard (maybe even in this thread, I'm too lazy to scroll up) it was made to age like a fine wine, so only the bestest comps will be able to pump out High settings. How low can you go without it looking like a polygonised turd?

For the record, I've not even managed to get it going on my laptop which will run most games on decent settings.

rudi

My new computer's bastard fast and has 4 times the recommended RAM. Gah!

I actually heard the PC version was buggy and laggy in comparison to console, which is just daft, and that even if you've got a monster, you have to run it on medium settings.

Have you tried the latest patch from Rockstar?

http://support.rockstargames.com/help/rockstar_games/IV_Patch_1060

Looks like it might help a bit.

rudi

I'll try that now - cheers petal. 5 hours. 5 fucking hours. Christ..

Bummer, dude. Good luck with it.

chocky909

Change your broadband rudi, it shows as a 10 minute d/l for me.

Anyone got any suggestions for fun stuff to do in free mode? I always end up flying a helicopter around the city blasting it up or getting caught in a shootout.

El Unicornio, mang

I've noticed that GTAIV runs better than the Episodes from LC. Although one useful tip I found for EFLC is "turn clip capture ON". It's set to off by default, turn it on and there's noticeable improvement.

As far as the games themselves go, I've done a few missions on both episodes, and can't really get into Lost and Damned, it just seems to be taking itself too seriously. Does it get any better later on? BOGT is better, good 80s music and a lot more humour, although the main character is horribly dull.

Uncle TechTip

I needed a dual-core 3Ghz CPU, 3GB of RAM and an Nvidia Geforce 9500 card to get GTAIV working well in Win7. Even then it's not fantastic performance, but works OK. The best tip is to dial down alll the display settings in game - detail distance, view distance, texture waffle etc etc. Take them down to the lowest level and work up from there. Even with this powerful system I have the settings fairly conservative. Take note of the memory usage value on the options screen, I think GTA can only use 1Gb of RAM at once for graphics, so if you're getting near to 800MB or more and you have other programs open, you could get issues. My memory usage even with 3Gb is around 500MB.

But I've never noticed any huge problems with bugs - it does crash out now and again, but very rarely in the singleplayer mode, more so in MP. I am on patch 1.04.

Uncle TechTip

Quote from: bingo_gasstation on May 21, 2010, 08:30:54 AM
Anyone got any suggestions for fun stuff to do in free mode? I always end up flying a helicopter around the city blasting it up or getting caught in a shootout.

Practise your sniping skills atop a not-too-tall building? go to the airport and just let your hair down, this is what everyone seems to do in free mode. There are loads of little baggage trucks and things to drive, it's the most fun I've had in a game in a long time. Note that in free mode it takes a lot more shots to kill people. Pile up a load of cars and blow the first one up, then watch as they gradually all catch fire? You can turn off police in free mode which needs hacks in the SP game.

Also, reffing my post about the MP game, I've since found that he best way to find games is to go into the 'Players' view in GFW Live, and track down people you've played before. By this method I always find a massive 24 player team Dm game - if I follow the standard route I almost never get to join those games and instead it creates a new, lonely game. (This is with GTAIV)

GTAIV MP is the most fun I've had on a computer game ever, even with all the cheaters.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on May 21, 2010, 03:17:16 PM
I needed a dual-core 3Ghz CPU, 3GB of RAM and an Nvidia Geforce 9500 card to get GTAIV working well in Win7. Even then it's not fantastic performance, but works OK. The best tip is to dial down alll the display settings in game - detail distance, view distance, texture waffle etc etc. Take them down to the lowest level and work up from there.

Texture settings seems to make the biggest difference (other than resolution), having them on high uses up about 400MB more of graphic card memory than on medium! There's not that much difference between the two, either. You might find some improvements if you add another gig of RAM, I need 2GB more because I'm on 2GB which isn't quite enough for optimal performance. Also, resolutions higher than 1280x768 seem to make it a bit slow.